This half-day  course is aimed at those who would like to learn about statistics for language testing. 

The course provides an overview of the different stages at which statistics are useful throughout the cycle of designing, validating, managing, and reviewing a language exam, and suggestions for practical follow-up action. It also aims to help better understand the role of statistics and how to interpret them when working with analysts, or individually. 

The course will be led by Jane Lloyd (Cambridge University Press and Assessment), an experienced tutor and expert in the field.

A more detailed programme will be available closer to the date. 

Additional Event Information:  

For group bookings, ALTE advises to book maximum three places per institution. 

Payment is in full when registering. Payment can be made online using a Visa, MasterCard or American Express.
If you cannot pay with a credit/debit card please contact the ALTE Services Unit: servicesunit@alte.org. We will then issue an invoice and a bank transfer will be possible.

In case of cancellation up until one month before the start of the events, the full amount will be refunded minus an €50 administration fee. If you have received the course book, you do not need to return this if cancelling. However, in the case of cancellation after this date, no refunds can be made.

Use of Personal Data Disclaimer

I agree that by clicking 'Register', the personal data I include in the registration form may be used and held by ALTE staff only for the purposes related to the organisation of the ALTE Introductory course in language testing course.

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Please note that ALTE will never ask you to pay via a third-party website.
Please avoid clicking on any links that direct you to a payment website other than WildApricot.

The ALTE Item Writing Basic with introduction to Artificial Intelligence aims to help participants get started as item writers or develop already existing item writing skills.  After introducing theory basics, we’ll get down to looking at examples and doing some item writing.
An additional module taught by Bert Wylin on a separate day introduces the basic concepts of Artificial Intelligence used in item writing. 
ALTE offers a 15% discount for ALTE Members and a 10% discount for General public if you book the ALTE Item Writing Basic with introduction to Artificial Intelligence & ALTE Item Writing Advanced with elements Artificial Intelligence courses (dates: 5-7 & 20-22 May 2025). Please email ALTE Services Unit to secure the discount: servicesunit@alte.org 

Most sample tasks are in English but the course is structured in a way that all of the techniques are applicable to other languages too. Although the sessions are divided into Reading, Writing, Listening and Speaking, we will also briefly discuss item writing for integrated skills.

Course tutors: Annie Broadhead & Bert Wylin
Annie Broadhead is an Assessment consultant, ESOL teacher trainer, test developer and ELT author based in Cambridge, UK. Annie has run online courses in the Principles of Testing and ALTE Item Writer courses in several countries.

She has experience of writing tests for all ages and at all levels. She is passionate about helping people produce good tests that have a positive washback effect on teaching and learning.

Bert Wylin has both an academic and a business profile. He has worked at the KU Leuven since 1993, leading the Education Innovation Centre (integrating EdTech in education). In 2001, he founded a KU Leuven university spin-off, now Televic Education, developing and servicing an e-assessment platform. Bert has delivered various courses for ALTE such as Developing Digital Assessments and Developing Digital Testing with Artificial Intelligence.  

Payment and Cancellation policy

Payment is in full when registering. Payment can only be made online using a Visa, MasterCard or American Express. 

Please notice that if you cannot pay with a credit/debit card please contact the ALTE Services Unit (servicesunit@alte.org). In such a case we will have to issue an invoice first, and only then a bank transfer will be possible.

In case of cancellation up until one month before the start of the events, the full amount will be refunded minus a €50 administration fee. However, in the case of cancellation after this date, no refunds can be made.  

Use of Personal Data Disclaimer

I agree that by clicking 'Register', the personal data I include in the registration form may be used and held by ALTE staff and third parties, only for the purposes related to the organisation of the ALTE Item Writing - Getting to know the basics course.

This half-day online course is aimed at those who want to learn about Rasch analysis for language testing. 

The course provides an introduction to the basics of the Rasch analysis techniques. It is suitable for pre- and post-testing of items in receptive skills tests. 

The course assumes, at best, only limited awareness of the type and content of files used for input and the type of output produced by Rasch Analysis and Rasch Measurement software.  It covers the cycle of preparing data for analysis and understanding input and output. It does not provide any training on operating any specific software, but concentrates on understanding typical content and design of input and output files. 

This course is aimed and assessment professionals with a language or teaching background, who need to work and communicate with analysts, make sense of output and tables, and who need to prepare or adapt input for analysis.  

The course is led by Jane Lloyd (Cambridge University Press and Assessment), an experienced tutor and expert in the field. 

A more detailed programme will be available closer to the date. 

Rasch Analysis: basic info

Rasch analysis is a psychometric technique which places the proficiency level of test takers, and the relative difficulty of items on a common scale. Rasch software (such as Winsteps) is used to calibrate the data and produces statistical measures for items and test takers. This analysis provides statistical data on the relative difficulty and consistency of the items, and the relative performance of test takers. Rasch analysis is suitable for pre- and post-testing of items in receptive skills tests.  

Additional Event Information:  

For group bookings, ALTE advises to book maximum three places per institution. 

Payment is in full when registering. Payment can be made online using a Visa, MasterCard or American Express.
If you cannot pay with a credit/debit card please contact the ALTE Services Unit: servicesunit@alte.org. We will then issue an invoice and a bank transfer will be possible.

In case of cancellation up until one month before the start of the events, the full amount will be refunded minus an €50 administration fee. If you have received the course book, you do not need to return this if cancelling. However, in the case of cancellation after this date, no refunds can be made.

Use of Personal Data Disclaimer

I agree that by clicking 'Register', the personal data I include in the registration form may be used and held by ALTE staff only for the purposes related to the organisation of the ALTE Introductory course in language testing course.

Spam alert 

Please note that ALTE will never ask you to pay via a third-party website.
Please avoid clicking on any links that direct you to a payment website other than WildApricot.

The ALTE course in oral assessor recruitment and training is suitable for those of you who are new to recruiting and training oral assessors and those wishing to review their current practices. 

This short course of two 90 minute sessions will look at face-face and online assessor training from assessor and interlocutor perspectives. There will be an introductory overview of the process starting with an initial exploration of an oral assessor ‘s role and responsibilities through to training, standardisation and ongoing quality assurance programmes. In the recruitment and selection section we will consider issues such as conflict of interest, contractual obligation and effective screening processes. The training section will include delivery mode options,  suggestions for content, for example the number and type of exam performances required and  the frequency and timing of training sessions. The final section will look at methods to maintain assessor reliability and consistency and ensure that assessors are adhering to the required standards.  

This  course is designed to be interactive and attendees will work in groups sharing ideas and experiences. You will be asked to complete a short questionnaire  at registration on your  testing context to ensure the course is shaped to your needs. 

The course will be delivered by Cathy Taylor, ALTE expert member. Cathy has 15 years experience in recruiting and training oral assessors.

Payment and Cancellation policy:

For group bookings, ALTE advises to book maximum three places per institution. 

Payment is in full when registering. Payment can only be made online using a Visa, MasterCard or American Express.

If you cannot pay with a credit/debit card please contact the Services Unit: servicesunit@alte.org. In such a case we will issue an invoice first, and only then a bank transfer will be possible.

In case of cancellation up until one month before the start of the events, the full amount will be refunded minus a €50 administration fee. However, in the case of cancellation after this date, no refunds can be made.

Use of personal data disclaimer:

I agree that by clicking 'Register', the personal data I include in the registration form may be used and held by ALTE staff and third parties, only for the purposes related to the organisation of the ALTE Rasch analysis course.

Spam alert 

Please note that ALTE will never ask you to pay via a third party website.
Please avoid clicking on any links that direct you to a payment website other than WildApricot.

ALTE is organising another online session of the  ALTE Introductory Course in Language Testing which will take place from Monday 3rd March to Friday 14th March 2025.

The course will be presented by  Professor Anthony Green (CRELLA, University of Bedfordshire) and Jane Lloyd (Cambridge University Press and Assessment).

The course will consist of a mix of recorded lectures and downloadable exercises, alongside a 'live' element where participants meet for an hour and a half a day over the two week-period.  
The course will provide extensive opportunities for hands-on practice, including in test design, item writing, scoring and quality assurance processes. You will learn most if you prepare fully for this work.

During the course you will learn:

• Principles that inform the decisions that individuals and organisations responsible for language assessment systems have to make about their design, content, implementation and use
• The qualities of language assessments that contribute to their usefulness
• Approaches to the assessment of the skills that language learners need for communicative success
• How to connect tasks found on assessments to the tasks involved in real-world language use
• Practical applications of theoretical and conceptual frameworks in the development and validation of assessments.

Workload
This is an intensive, full-time course that requires:

• A minimum of four hours of independent study each day (reading, carrying out tasks, watching lectures)
• 90 minutes of course meetings each day (discussions and group tasks) from 11.00 - 12.30 UK time / 12.00 - 13.30 CET time.
• All the activities of each session must be completed before the live session. Please note that the Session 1 and Session 2 pre reading and tasks must be completed prior to the live meeting on the first day.
• A significant amount time working on course related tasks on the two weekends before the official start date and in the middle of the course.

This course is supported by the following core text: 

Green, A.B. (2020) Exploring language assessment and testing (2^nd edition). Abingdon: Routledge. ISBN-13: 978-1138388789. 
The book is provided by ALTE. You can either choose a physical copy or an e-book. Information about the book will be available after you've registered. 

The book (either a physical copy or the e-book) will be delivered to you a couple of weeks ahead of the course start date.  If you register after 7 February 2025, an e-book will automatically be assigned to you due to organisational procedures. 

Once you register, we will share a detailed programme of the course. 

Additional Event Information:  

For group bookings, ALTE advises to book maximum three places per institution. 

Payment is in full when registering. Payment can only be made online using a Visa, MasterCard or American Express.
If you cannot pay with a credit/debit card please contact the ALTE Services Unit: servicesunit@alte.org. In such a case we will issue an invoice first, and only then
a bank transfer will be possible.

In case of cancellation up until one month before the start of the events, the full amount will be refunded minus an €50 administration fee. If you have received the course book, you do not need to return this if cancelling. However, in the case of cancellation after this date, no refunds can be made.

Use of Personal Data Disclaimer

I agree that by clicking 'Register', the personal data I include in the registration form may be used and held by ALTE staff only for the purposes related to the organisation of the ALTE Introductory course in language testing course.

Spam alert 

Please note that ALTE will never ask you to pay via a third party website.
Please avoid clicking on any links that direct you to a payment website other than WildApricot.

Introduction to Standard Setting - online training

ALTE Introduction to Standard Setting 

This course provides an overview of standard setting and how it fits into the process of aligning tests to an external framework, such as the CEFR. It introduces key terminology and concepts related to standard setting, and an overview of the main components of standard setting, and commonly used methods.  

What knowledge and/or skills will I gain from this course? 

The ALTE Standard Setting course covers the following: 

• How standard setting relates to aligning your test to a language proficiency framework 

• What terminology and concepts are essential to know  

• Which standard setting methods are commonly used in language testing  

• Key decisions for institutions engaged in standard setting 

Who is this course suitable for? 

No previous knowledge of standard setting is required or assumed. The course is suitable for people who are new to standard setting and need to have an overview of the basics. It is suitable for someone who is new to this work in their institution, or who would like to gain experience as a participant in a standard setting panel. 

Can I run standard setting for my institution after attending this course? 

This course is an introduction to the basic concepts, it will enable participants with no experience to work alongside a more experienced colleague. The ALTE Services Unit offer an additional course in setting up and running standard setting. Please contact the ALTE Services Unit for details: servicesunit@alte.org 

How is this course delivered? 

This workshop is delivered online. It consists of interactive meetings with the whole group, small breakout sessions, bite-size introductory input, individual study tasks, group discussions, and interactive Q&A. It is not necessary to prepare for the tasks in advance, but these will be made available for those who may want to review the content or language. The session will last between 3-4 hours and will include a 30-minute break. 

Does this course require and specific software? 

This course does not require any specific software, but it is a paper-free ‘green’ course, and all material will be delivered/shared online. You will need your own laptop. 

Who is the tutor? 

The course will be presented by Jane Lloyd (Cambridge University Press and Assessment). Jane is Senior Research Manager at Cambridge English. Her main responsibilities are leading on standard setting for Cambridge exams, working on large-scale educational reform projects with ministries and NGOs, and working for ALTE. Her work for ALTE is to support other national language test providers. This includes: statistical analysis of items, analysis of rater performance, research into exam and language use at regional and national level, courses and training in assessment, preparation for audits, and training for item writers, test designers and raters. She has a degree in Linguistics, a DELTA, an MA in Linguistics and TESOL, and an MA in Language Testing. She is currently studying for a PhD in Language Testing at CRELLA.  

Can several people from the same organisation join this course? 

For group bookings, ALTE advises to book a maximum of three places per organisation.  

How can I pay?
Full payment is required on registration. We strongly recommend that payment is made online using a Visa, MasterCard or American Express. However, if it is not possible to pay with a credit/debit card when registering, please contact the ALTE Services Unit (servicesunit@alte.org) to request an invoice with bank transfer payment instructions.

Use of Personal Data Disclaimer

I agree that by clicking 'Register', the personal data I include in the registration form may be used and held by ALTE staff only for the purposes related to the organisation of the ALTE Introductory course in language testing course.

Expression of Interest in ALTE Courses

If you would like to express your interest in any other ALTE course, please click here.

ALTE Artificial Intelligence in Digital Language Testing course is a two-day
in-person course which will explore the use of AI in the full digital language testing process, which includes: 
- the authoring phase, with AI (-assisted) item authoring
- the test-taking phase, with AI-monitoring of test-takers), or the threat of candidates using AI to take their test,
- the marking and grading phase, with (semi-)automatic AI grading
- the results processing phase, where AI can detect anomalies or help interpreting big data.

The course will take the perspective of both the test organisers and the test-takers or candidates: which AI uses are wanted and which should be prevented or banned to have fair tests?

In the two-day course, the participants will get an overview of the current possibilities with AI, with lots of concrete examples. Furthermore, time will be spent on hands-on exercises and practical prompting tips and tricks.

About the course tutor:
Bert Wylin has both an academic and a business profile. He has been working at the KU Leuven since 1993, leading the Education Innovation Centre (integrating EdTech in education). In 2001, he founded a KU Leuven university spin-off, now Televic Education, developing and servicing an e-assessment platform. Today, Bert is interested in how technology serves the didactic and pedagogical needs of content and skills measurement. 

Payment and Cancellation policy

For group bookings, ALTE advises to book maximum three places per institution. 
If you would like more people to attend from your institution, please contact: servicesunit@alte.org to add to the waiting list. 
ALTE offers a 15% discount for ALTE Members and a 10% discount for General public for organisations sending two or three people to the course.
Please email: servicesunit@alte.org if you'd like to receive the discount. 
   
Payment is in full when registering. Payment can only be made online using a Visa, MasterCard or American Express. 

If you cannot pay with a credit/debit card please contact the ALTE Services Unit: servicesunit@alte.org. In such a case we issue an invoice first, and only then a bank transfer will be possible.
In case of cancellation up until one month before the start of the events, the full amount will be refunded minus a €50 administration fee. However, in the case of cancellation after this date, no refunds can be made.  

Use of Personal Data Disclaimer

I agree that by clicking 'Register', the personal data I include in the registration form may be used and held by ALTE staff and third parties, only for the purposes related to the organisation of the ALTE course in Developing Digital Assessments.

Spam alert 

Please note that ALTE will never ask you to pay via a third party website.
Please avoid clicking on any links that direct you to a payment website other than WildApricot.

ALTE's 62^nd Meeting and Conference will be hosted by CBAC WJEC and it will take place in Cardiff, United Kingdom, from 2^nd - 4^th April 2025.

The first 2 days (Wednesday and Thursday) of the event are open only to representatives of ALTE Full Members/Associate Members and Individual Expert Members.

Friday 4^th April 2025 will be an open conference day for all those with an interest in the field of language testing. The theme of the conference day will be: 

Assessing Speaking and Spoken Interaction.

Please note, the event on Friday 4^th April will not be live streamed, however the plenary presentations (from 9am till 2.30pm) will be video recorded. 

Online attendance has been arranged only for the ALTE Members’ update, Thursday 3^rd April 2025 (from 4pm to 5.30pm) and it will be free.

PROVISIONAL PROGRAMME

How to register:

FIRST STEP

Click on the ‘register’ button on the left-hand side of this webpage and fill the registration form on the ALTE website.

SECOND STEP

Pay the contribution fee to the host organisation (€70 per each representative of ALTE Members/Associate Members/Individual Expert Members). More info on how to make the payment is available in the Practical information document (pages 2-3).

After completing the 2 steps above the registration is complete.

The registration for the event will open in January 2025.

For more information about the practical arrangements of the event, please click on the practical information document. The document has important information for UK entry requirements for EU citizens.

Cancellation policy: If you are not attending the event anymore, please inform the ALTE Secretariat as soon as possible. The €70 contribution is non-refundable.

This innovative advanced course in Item Writing for language tests has been created to facilitate the needs of those item writers who need a more in-depth knowledge and solutions. 

The course also tackles the usage of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Item Writing and will demonstrate how AI can be used in the process. 

The course will be divided into two parts: Advanced Item Writing sessions, and elements of Artificial Intelligence in Item Writing. 

In the Item Writing part, you’ll look at the interplay between the language skills in assessment: reading, speaking, listening, and writing.  You’ll discuss choice of task type in relation to CEFR descriptors, in particular, communicative language competency descriptors.  Producing assessment criteria for speaking and writing as well as developing Test specifications and Item Writer Guidelines will also be covered.
ALTE offers a 15% discount for ALTE Members and a 10% discount for General public if you book the ALTE Item Writing Basic with introduction to Artificial Intelligence & ALTE Item Writing Advanced with elements Artificial Intelligence courses (dates: 11-13 & 23-25 February 2025).
Please email ALTE Services Unit to secure the discount: servicesunit@alte.org 

For many organizations Language Test Item Writing has also become a digital process, with the use of digital resources, tools, and online applications. In the Advanced Elements of Artificial Intelligence in Item Writing sessions you will discuss the digital side of Item Writing: item types, configuring automatic or human correction, scores, using metadata, using on-the-fly test generation… 

You will also discuss questions such as:  

• How can AI help to generate materials for a test? 

• Can AI help to define the (CEFR) level of a question? 

• Can AI (help to) generate full items? 

• Should item writers think about automatic correction or grading when designing the items?

The course is divided into two parts across four full days and two half days.  Please see below how the course is structured, so you can plan your calendar accordingly. 

PART 1:    

Day 1: 05 May (Monday), 10 am* – 1 pm & 2 pm – 5 pm – Advanced Item Writing: Communicative language competences and testing   

Day 2: 06 May  (Tuesday), 10 am – 1 pm (half a day) – Artificial Intelligence in Item Writing 

Day 3: 07 May (Wednesday), 10 am – 1 pm & 2 pm – 5 pm – Advanced Item Writing: Communicative language competences and testing    – cont. 

PART 2:

Day 1: 20 May (Tuesday), 10 am – 1 pm & 2 pm – 5 pm – Advanced Item Writing : Productive skills and assessment criteria

Day 2: 21 May (Wednesday), 10 am – 1 pm (half a day) – Artificial Intelligence in Item Writing 

Day 3: 22 May (Thursday), 10 am – 1 pm & 2 pm – 5 pm – Advanced Item Writing  Productive skills and assessment criteria – cont.   Developing test Specifications and Item Writer Guidelines.

*All times are in the CET zone. 

Although ALTE created the course mainly for those who have participated in the ALTE Item Writing Basic course, the course is open to anyone interested in deepening their knowledge of Item Writing. 

Please note that it is possible to join part 1 or part 2 of this course only. 
However,  we encourage you to participate in both parts as this will be more beneficial, both for you, the tutors and other participants, so the same group can be maintained.  If you would like to join only one part of this course, please contact servicesunit@alte.org .

CERTIFICATE OF ATTENDANCE

ALTE will issue a digital certificate of attendance for those who participated in at least 80% of the teaching hours (for the parts of the course they chose when signing up). 

The tutors are: Annie Broadhead and Bert Wylin, two world-class consultants to deliver this unique and state-of-art course. 

Annie Broadhead is an Assessment consultant, ESOL teacher trainer, test developer and ELT author based in Cambridge, UK. Annie has run online courses in the Principles of Testing and ALTE Item Writer courses in several countries. Annie has delivered various courses for ALTE across the years, such as ALTE Item Writing Course - Getting to know the basics; 

Bert Wylin has both an academic and a business profile. He has worked at the KU Leuven since 1993, leading the Education Innovation Centre (integrating EdTech in education). In 2001, he founded a KU Leuven university spin-off, now Televic Education, developing and servicing an e-assessment platform. Bert has delivered various courses for ALTE such as Developing Digital Assessments and Developing Digital Testing with Artificial Intelligence.  

Payment and Cancellation policy

Payment is in full when registering. Payment can only be made online using a Visa, MasterCard or American Express. 

In case of cancellation up until one month before the start of the events, the full amount will be refunded minus a €50 administration fee. However, in the case of cancellation after this date, no refunds can be made.  

Use of Personal Data Disclaimer

I agree that by clicking 'Register', the personal data I include in the registration form may be used and held by ALTE staff and third parties, only for the purposes related to the organisation of the ALTE Item Writing - Getting to know the basics course.

ALTE's 63^rd Meeting and Conference will be hosted by The Foreign Language Centre at the University of Pécs and it will take place in Pécs, Hungary, from 5^th  - 7^th November 2025.

The first 2 days (Wednesday and Thursday) of the event are open only to representatives of ALTE Full Members/Associate Members and Individual Expert Members.

Friday 7^th November 2025 will be an open conference day for all those with an interest in the field of language testing. 

More information about this event will be available in due course.